...AND WE'RE BACK
After some crazy weeks, we were finally back to our regular schedule for High Ability.
Around the School
February 14th - Zumba Parties
Valentine's Day
February 15th - ELearning Day
Make-up day from 1-31
It is available online now.
February 18th - Mid-Winter Break
Presidents' Day - No School
March 7th - Kindergarten Round-up
It has been a crazy, busy week in language arts! All 3 of my classes are starting novel studies at the same time for the second semester. Please be on the lookout for your student bringing home a book on Tuesdays (4th graders will have a folder too) for required reading. The only exception will be the week prior to spring break.
2nd Grade: The Tale of Despereaux:
Next, the students listened to the story Weslandia by Paul Fleischman. This story was used to model the three connections a good reader makes: text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world. The book is broken into 4 parts and for the first two sections we are going to focus on making connections while we read.
To end the week, I shared with the students their new novel - The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. They quickly discovered that it was the same author from our previous novel. They made a prediction that our story will have adventure from looking at the cover. They also made a connection with the author from our last story and think that adventure is a theme she might continue to use in her stories. We shared a read aloud on Tuesday to begin our new adventure with The Tale of Despereaux.
Please read chapters 2-4.
3rd Grade: BLACK BEAUTY:
This group began their novel study this week. We first listened to a short clip that previews the novel for the students. Then, we looked over the student packet. Throughout the novel, the students will track the owners and their interactions they share with their horses - we will track how this affects the horses' temperament throughout the story. We also have the story divided into 4 sections - with each section the students will answer a set of short response questions. This week we listened to chapter 1. After hearing the story, the students completed a question that focused on the piece of advice Beauty was given by his mother as a colt. We will focus on this advice throughout the story, so it is important the students pause and reflect on the idea of good advice. We had time left this week to continue the read aloud by hearing two more chapters. We will continue with our novel study next week.
Please read chapters 4-6.
This group began their novel study this week. We first listened to a short clip that previews the novel for the students. Then, we looked over the student packet. Throughout the novel, the students will track the owners and their interactions they share with their horses - we will track how this affects the horses' temperament throughout the story. We also have the story divided into 4 sections - with each section the students will answer a set of short response questions. This week we listened to chapter 1. After hearing the story, the students completed a question that focused on the piece of advice Beauty was given by his mother as a colt. We will focus on this advice throughout the story, so it is important the students pause and reflect on the idea of good advice. We had time left this week to continue the read aloud by hearing two more chapters. We will continue with our novel study next week.
Please read chapters 4-6.
4th Grade: THE WESTING GAMES:
We have solved our short mystery - the nephew did it! Some students were excited because they predicted him from the start. This led us into the introduction to our novel study. The students were introduced to their novel The Westing Games by Ellen Raskin. We went over a Detective Packet the students will be responsible for while solving the case. The packet is divided into activities to complete and help track notes as they work towards solving the mystery. The students will each have a folder that will go home on Tuesdays with their book and these materials should be returned with them for class on Monday. We ended the week with just enough time to read chapter 1 together.
Please read chapters 2 & 3. They do not have their folders for this week because we ran out of time to demonstrate how to complete them with chapter 1. We will complete these together for chapters 1-3 on Monday.
2nd Grade: AREA:
We are now exploring area with square inches. The students completed the activity Putting Things in Order. This activity asked them to first predict the area of 3 shapes from smallest to largest. Next, they were allowed to cut the shapes out and manipulate them how they wished to help determine the correct order of the shapes. To check their answer, they were asked to measure the shapes with square inch tiles.
They discovered the tiles were not a perfect fit for one of the shapes. Our last step was to use a square inch grid to measure the three shapes. They were surprised to see that it was actually 2 of our shapes that the tiles did not fit into properly.
This led us back into a discussion on adding up partial squares or fractions. We will take a few minutes next week to begin class with a mini-lesson on adding the partial squares (fractions) before continuing on with the lesson.
3rd Grade: BREAK ME APART:
These guys jumped right back into their lesson. We quickly reviewed with the small arrays from 2 weeks ago the formula for the distributive property. Next, we switched it up and started to work the property with larger arrays. This definitely gave them more of a challenge. We decided to take some extra time working with the larger arrays and continued to practice applying the distributive property while looking for the area. It is important that they master this step before moving onto their independent practice with this lesson because it is our big concept we will build on throughout the chapter.
Next week we will continue with the lesson.
4th Grade: CHAPTER CHECK-UP:
These guys are troopers! When we met two weeks ago we started their chapter check-up. After a long delay, I asked them to try and finish it giving it their best effort. I am really proud of this group cause after grading them I was able to see they are getting it and the delay didn't affect the scores.
For those that finished early, they had the opportunity to complete a logic puzzle. These were requested by a student this week and are similar to the ones they completed last year. Last year they were a struggle for them, so I was happily surprised to see them excited to solve these independently this year! They were excited to work through the puzzle and I am seeing them do much better with them than last year - what a difference a year makes!
Have a Great Weekend,
Ms. Losinski
2nd Grade: AREA:
We are now exploring area with square inches. The students completed the activity Putting Things in Order. This activity asked them to first predict the area of 3 shapes from smallest to largest. Next, they were allowed to cut the shapes out and manipulate them how they wished to help determine the correct order of the shapes. To check their answer, they were asked to measure the shapes with square inch tiles.
They discovered the tiles were not a perfect fit for one of the shapes. Our last step was to use a square inch grid to measure the three shapes. They were surprised to see that it was actually 2 of our shapes that the tiles did not fit into properly. 
This led us back into a discussion on adding up partial squares or fractions. We will take a few minutes next week to begin class with a mini-lesson on adding the partial squares (fractions) before continuing on with the lesson.
These guys jumped right back into their lesson. We quickly reviewed with the small arrays from 2 weeks ago the formula for the distributive property. Next, we switched it up and started to work the property with larger arrays. This definitely gave them more of a challenge. We decided to take some extra time working with the larger arrays and continued to practice applying the distributive property while looking for the area. It is important that they master this step before moving onto their independent practice with this lesson because it is our big concept we will build on throughout the chapter. 
4th Grade: CHAPTER CHECK-UP:
These guys are troopers! When we met two weeks ago we started their chapter check-up. After a long delay, I asked them to try and finish it giving it their best effort. I am really proud of this group cause after grading them I was able to see they are getting it and the delay didn't affect the scores.
For those that finished early, they had the opportunity to complete a logic puzzle. These were requested by a student this week and are similar to the ones they completed last year. Last year they were a struggle for them, so I was happily surprised to see them excited to solve these independently this year! They were excited to work through the puzzle and I am seeing them do much better with them than last year - what a difference a year makes!Have a Great Weekend,
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